Hyderabad:The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was 'horrified' by the airstrike on Gaza's Al-Ahli Arab hospital, which left hundreds dead and injured, amid both sides blaming each other for the attack. Guterres in his message on X reiterated that hospitals and all medical personnel are protected under international law.
Gaza Health Ministry pegged the loss of life around 500 people in the hospital bombing.
He also condemned the strike and an attack earlier on Tuesday on a school run by the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which killed at least six people, his spokesperson said in a statement.
He described the strike on the hospital as "totally unacceptable".
"We don't yet know the full scale of this carnage but what is clear is that the violence and killings must stop at once," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said in a statement. He said hospitals are sacrosanct and must be protected at all cost, adding that "those found responsible must be held to account.”
Displaced civilians were reportedly seeking shelter at the hospital, following Israel’s order to evacuate to the south in advance of what is expected to be a ground assault.
WHO condemns Al-Ahli Arab hospital bombing-“WHO strongly condemns the attack,” agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in his X post. He called for "the immediate protection of civilians and healthcare, and for the evacuation orders to be reversed.”
On Tuesday night in New York, the United Arab Emirates said they along with Russia have called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Palestine, including the strike on the hospital in Gaza City.
Evacuation order 'impossible to carry out'-Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was operational, with patients, health and caregivers, and internally displaced people sheltering there, according to the WHO. It was one of 20 hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip which the Israeli military has directed for evacuation.
"The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced," the WHO said.
It appealed for the immediate active protection of civilians and healthcare. "Evacuation orders must be reversed. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted."
MSF condemns hospital bombing-We are horrified by the recent Israeli bombing of Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which was treating patients and hosting displaced Gazans. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed. This is a massacre. It is absolutely unacceptable..., Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement.
"We were operating in the hospital, there was a strong explosion, and the ceiling fell on the operating room. This is a massacre," said Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, MSF doctor in Gaza.
Nothing justifies this shocking attack on a hospital and its many patients and health workers, as well as the people who sought shelter there. Hospitals are not a target. This bloodshed must stop. Enough is enough, the statement read.
115 attacks on healthcare since Oct 7 Hamas' incursion-According to the WHO, there have been over 115 attacks on healthcare across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since the recent escalation of the conflict on October 7, in response to the Hamas’ bloody incursion into southern Israel.
Nearly half of these attacks - 51 were reported in the Gaza Strip. Fifteen healthcare workers killed and 27 injured, Hyo-Jeong Kim, Lead of WHO’s Attacks on Health Care Initiative, said. The remaining incidents were reported in the West Bank.
Hospitals are 'not safe'-Crisis in Gaza having a population of roughly two million, has displaced some 600,000 people, many of whom have taken refuge in hospitals which are already overwhelmed with rising casualties and deaths, and as fuel supply dwindles.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, a WHO representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, underscored the dilemma of the displaced facing while being on the run. “They go to these hospitals because they expect they are safe places. Now, even a hospital is not a safe place anymore, what is?” He said.
Running on empty-Food, water and critical medicines and health supplies are running out in Gaza. Of 35 hospitals there, four are defunct due to severe damage and targeting, while only eight of the 22 UNRWA primary healthcare centres were partially functional, he said.
He said all hospitals are running short on essential supplies and medicines, including for treating non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. Blood banks only have a week of supply left, he said. “We also have to think about simple things - cleaning materials, hygiene materials - to avoid infections. Already now in the hospitals, in the key hospitals, they see a lot of infections, infected patients, because of that.”
